By Chris Fenn
Now I know @LukeBbtt has been reviewing Batman Eternal but I thought I’d give it a read this week and see how my thoughts compared to his.
I reviewed the first issue of this series and thought it was really good with a very promising future for Gotham City. Since reading it though I have to say I have been disappointed.
My favourite issue to date has been the Batgirl one, with Red Hood and El Gaucho, because it felt like a Batman comic with a clear story and character work instead of just a cluster of loose ends and characters. This issue, to me, felt like another collection of characters doing meaningless stuff.
Now let me throw this out there before people get upset or angry; I like Scott Snyder. I really liked The Black Mirror. I liked the Court of Owls. I mostly liked Death of the Family. Scott Snyder is a good writer…
… But Scott Snyder needs to stop doing story arcs that require a million issues. I’ve complained about Zero Year before for being too long, but Batman Eternal is estimated to run for Sixty issues. Sixty! From start to finish that’s fifteen months. This story will finish in around July 2015, and I cannot fathom why this story needs sixty issues to tell.
Based on the Batman #28 preview/filler issue we know that Steph is going to be spoiler and we know that Harper is going to assume a more active role in the plot as Bluebird and we know that there is going to be a sort of police state in place, so until then it’s almost like we’re going to tread water.
I also now totally agree with what the @intercomicspod gang (@gizmo151183 specifically) have been saying about destroying the character of Gordon, only now it feels that nobody ever except for Batman is allowed to be good and try to not outright murder people. At first I thought Snyder and Tynion IV were going to build Bard up as being squeaky clean and the Jim Gordon people want in the New 52 so his inevitable heel turn would have more impact, but in this issue he reveals he’s cool with a dozen people dying.
Also why is it trendy to make the Scarecrow an awful character? He was awful in Arkham War, he was awful in the Gothtopia storyline and he’s awful in this. Oh, and The Joker’s Daughter is in this too; so far she has popped up twice for no real reason and in no relation to any other events of the story; but she has Joker in her name so cool beans, right guys?
I feel like this book is struggling and could be due to end any time soon, but we are less than 25% into the event. I just really want some nice short stories; a few one and done comics, some two or three issue arcs, with interesting characters that don’t need to change the face of the DC Universe forever.
I don’t understand what Batman Eternal is trying to do; why is Carmine Falcone built like a WWE Superstar, why did The Penguin pierce the throat of his henchmen for being helpful and why don’t we see Batman in a Batman comic?
I don’t want to read Batman Eternal any more, but I feel obligated to considering everything has to tie into everything else and I’ll probably not be able to read any other Bat title soon if I dare to miss a single issue.
All in all I find Batman Eternal as a whole, and Scott Snyder, to be overly indulgent, with too many characters, not enough direction and far too much of a desire to be remembered forever instead of giving readers a good story.
All in all, I give Batman Eternal #14 a 9.5 out of 10.
That was a joke by the way.
I think I’ll leave this series to @LukeBbtt in future!
For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989
Posted on July 10th, 2014
Category: OUT OF THE LONG BOX, REVIEWS
Tags: Batman, Batman Eternal #14 review, Chris Fenn, Jokers Daughter, Penguin, Scarecrow, Scott Snyder
Reviewed by Chris Fenn
This week DC readers were treated to not one but two titles with the Scarecrow in a leading role; here in Detective Comics and also in Arkham War. This is the first full Detective Comics issue dedicated to Gothtopia, but we did get an introduction in Detective Comics #27 and it looked very promising.
I do have to say that I feel looks were deceiving this issue. There were things I liked about the book, but on the whole I wasn’t overly impressed with it. The biggest gripe I have is the pacing of the issue. The set up in the Detective Comics #27 had the correct pacing; despite it only being a shorter story it created anticipation and made me want to follow the story.
When I read this issue I just felt as if everything was rushed. Within 5 pages Batman has; freed Poison Ivy, got her to work with him, learned the Scarecrows plot, manufactured an antidote to his new gas and subdued everyone in Arkham Asylum. Now for me a lot of these events could have been made longer otherwise it makes Scarecrows new gas seem very ineffectual if it can be so easily countered.
Pacing aside, the issue did end with a decent cliff hanger; Batman having to face off against his allies, and I suppose freeing the city from the Scarecrows gas will be more difficult than a building that he can use the ventilation to his advantage, so it will be interesting to see how Scarecrow fares in the limelight away from Arkham War.
One of the highlights of this issue for me was the perceptions of various people. I really liked how we were shown the Gothtopia versions of Dr. Jonathan Crane, Victor Fries and Lazlo Valentin and then shown the real world Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze and Professor Pyg. I also really liked the intense fear versions of Pyg and Scarecrow, it reminded me a lot of how the Scarecrow segments worked in the Animated Series and in the Arkham games.
I will keep reading the Gothtopia event, but I don’t think it’s going to be anywhere near as good as Forever Evil or Zero Year, but as I said in my opening paragraph it is nice to see some Scarecrow love!
For more comic views and reviews follow Chris on Twitter at @fenneth1989
Posted on February 11th, 2014
Category: OUT OF THE LONG BOX, REVIEWS
Tags: Aaron Lopresti, Batman, Chris Fenn, Comic Blog, Comic Reviews, DC Comics, Detective Comics #28 Review, Jason Fabok, John Layman, Scarecrow
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